It's normal for most Hollywood movies to be given test screenings prior to their release to gauge audiences’ initial reactions to them.

But, in the case of Sir Anthony Hopkins’ upcoming biblical blockbuster Noah, its makers have sought the ultimate approval – from God himself.

Forgoing the likes of San Diego’s Comic-Con festival , the traditional industry forum for such showbiz exclusives, early footage from the film instead got its world premiere at the Christian-themed Echo Conference in Dallas, Texas last week to a deluge of glowing reviews.

Preacher Vincent Powell tweeted, “I’m utterly in AWE – just saw the first rough trailer for Noah,” while others that were granted an early peak raved about it being “amazing, “ incredible” and looking like “a winner”.

Directed by Darren Aronofsky of The Wrestler and Black Swan fame and also starring Russell Crowe in the title role, it’s a multi-million dollar retelling of the Old Testament tale in which one man was divinely chosen to build a giant wooden ark in which to save himself, his family and two of every species of animal on the planet from an imminent and catastrophic global flood.

Filmed in Iceland, it will see 75-year-old Hopkins donning a long grey wig and ageing make-up to play Noah’s grandfather Methuselah who, having made it to 969, was thought to have been the oldest person to have ever lived.

And before the preview of the film Aronofsky told the conference, billed as a “gathering of artists, geeks, and storytellers seeking to explore creativity within the church,” that it was a film he’d been wanting to make ever since his school days when he won a class award for a poem he’d penned on the subject.

“That poem gave me the courage and spirit to be a writer, so Noah’s very much been a patron saint in my life leading me creatively,” said the 44-year-old director, who announced he was honoured to have been able to add the Port Talbot acting legend to his cast list.

“I'm also excited that Hollywood has finally agreed to make the first biblical epic in almost 50 years,” the director continued, referencing the likes 1956 The Ten Commandments and 1965 The Greatest Story Ever Told.

“It’s been a long time since movies like this were on the big screen, maybe because it’s only now that the advancements in technology and special effects have enabled us to capture the size and scale of the action and have all those different animals together in the same shot.

“But now, finally, we can actually do this and bring it to life,” he added.

And critics are already drawing comparisons between the film – which also features Harry Potter starlet Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly and Cockney hardman Ray Winstone as the villainous Tubal-Cain – and Mel Gibson’s controversial 2004 hit The Passion of the Christ, which went on to win a clutch of awards and has notched up more than $600m worldwide.

And Hopkins, for one, seemed convinced that Noah wouldn’t sink at the box office either.

“Millions of people across the world want films that retell historical and religious stories from a different perspective,” he said.